Two Silver Rings
by suzie2b
Summary: Ever wonder why Tully wears those rings?


**Disclaimer:** _ **The Rat Patrol**_ **is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.**

 **Two Silver Rings**

 **By Suzie2b**

 **It had been a long few days for the Rat Patrol and they wouldn't be back behind allied lines for another day … maybe two depending on what the Germans did.**

 **They were in a wadi for the night. Tully opened his eyes and stared up at the stars. He lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 2am. He had another hour before he had to relieve Hitch on watch. Tully rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, but sleep wouldn't come. His body craved rest, but his mind was wide awake.**

 **Finally Tully sighed and sat up. It was ridicules to lay there unable to sleep. It only made the aches and pains he'd gotten over the past several days flare up. Tully stood up and stretched carefully. Troy and Moffitt were sound asleep. He looked up at the top of the wadi and could just make out Hitch's shadowy form.**

 **Tully grabbed his machine gun and headed up. Hitch didn't turn to look at his friend when he said quietly, "You're a little early, Tully."**

" **Yeah, thought you looked like you could use some company for a while."**

 **Hitch smiled. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"**

 **Tully yawned as he sat down on the dead, fallen tree next to his friend. "I was doing pretty good until I woke up."**

 **They sat there in companionable silence for a few minutes. Then Hitch noticed Tully playing with one of his two pinky rings. "Can I ask you something, Tully?"**

" **You can ask me anything, Hitch."**

" **It's none of my business … but why do you wear those rings?"**

 **Tully sighed with a smile. He continued to twist and turn the ring on the little finger of his left hand as he said, "It started one night after I'd told my family I'd enlisted, but before I left for basic training. I woke up and found my sister Beth carefully wrapping a piece of string around my little finger. I asked her what she was doing and she told me, 'What's it look like I'm doing?' I said, 'It looks like you're wrapping string around my finger.' She just looked at me with a silly girl grin and told me I was very observant. Then she took the string and left my room."**

 **Hitch grinned. "When did you figure out she was measuring your finger?"**

" **Actually, I didn't … at least not right away. I went back to sleep that night and didn't think anything more about it. Then I went off to boot camp for five months. After that, the army let everybody go home to wait for their orders. It was on the last night before I was shipped out that Beth and Katy presented me with a small box they'd wrapped in paper they'd decorated themselves. I sure wasn't expecting anything."**

 **Hitch saw the faraway look on his friend's face. "So your sisters bought you the rings. Why?"**

 **Tully sighed. "I hadn't thought about it before they told me, but they were scared of my going away and being in the war. Not so much that I might get hurt or killed … I don't think that part had sunk in for them yet. But they were afraid I'd get lonely. Beth and Katy wanted me to have something I could look at and think of family when I was missing home. It was all I could do not to start crying right then and there." He looked at Hitch. "My mother told me later that the girls had spent the time I was away in basic saving their allowances and doing odd jobs to get the money to send away for these." Tully held up his right hand. "This is the one Beth picked." He held up his left. "This was Katy's choice."**

" **So, do they work?"**

 **Tully smiled. "Yeah, they do. The war keeps us pretty busy so it's not often I get a chance to get truly lonely out here. But every now and then I miss family and home. Then I look at these, turn 'em around some on my fingers, and think about what they might be doing back home at that moment."**

 **For a moment Hitch thought of his own family. Then he said, "Must be nice to have a close knit family."**

" **Yeah, it is." Tully noted the look on his friend's face. "I wouldn't trade my family back in Kentucky for anything. But I've got family here too."**

 **Hitch nodded. "Charley's a big plus for you."**

 **Tully grinned. "Charley's a huge plus … but I've got you, Troy, and Moffitt too."**


End file.
